Hello! My husband and I are relocating from DC to Dallas. We have a one and a half year old red male and were hoping someone could give us recommendations on vets, daycare/boarding facilities and training classes. We are also very curious on how do you handle heat! Thanks so much!

We live in Dallas! Well, about 30 minutes north of Dallas, but close enough :). Our red male Shiba, Elwood, is almost 2 years old.

As far as vets, we currently go to Dr. Lindsey at Blackstone Animal Hospital in Frisco. The dogs love him & so do we. If you're looking for something more centrally located, we used to go to Dr. Melissa Cortiaus at Josey Ranch Pet Hospital in Carrollton. Dr. Cortiaus saved our Pomeranian's life when she had a bowel obstruction. She even gave me her cell phone number so that I could call her at any time if we had problems post-surgery. She's a fantastic vet.

For boarding, we use Every Dog's Day in Frisco. Both of our dogs love it there, & they even have rooms where you can watch the dogs on webcam while you're out of town. Every time we pick our guys up they give us a handmade poster with pictures from their visit. I have a friend who uses Pete and Mac's in Irving & has been pleased with her experience there.

We just used Petsmart for our puppy classes since we were new to the area & couldn't find recommendations on any good trainers. Now, though, Sadie takes agility classes at Prospering Paws in Prosper (30 minutes north of Dallas). We love our instructor. I've also heard good things about What A Great Dog (also in Prosper), Dallas Dog Sports (in Wylie), Doggie Zen Den (in Plano) & Best Friends Fun Farm (in McKinney).

The heat can be hard to handle. I've lived in Texas all of my life & I still don't deal well with it. All I can recommend is only doing physical activity (walks, outdoor training, etc) in the early morning or late evening during the months of May through September. Dogs can get overheated in a hurry if you're out in the middle of the day.

When are you moving to the area? I'd love to get together sometime for a doggy playdate! :)

Thank you so much for all the info =) We will definitely look into these places. We will also see if we can find something else closer to us... as we will be right in Dallas.

We will be moving right after Memorial Day weekend... and we are looking at Uptown, Knox-Henderson and the Design District, as my husband's office is right downtown. But we would love to get together once we are settled!!!

Yay, exciting! It looks like there will be lots of Shibas in DFW soon! :D There's quite a few nice dog parks in the area. We go to Ruff Range in Frisco & Canine Commons in Allen fairly often. There's a dog park in Plano called Jack Carter Dog Park, but it's already open. I'm not sure about a new one...

Thank you all! Yes, my poor baby! She is TERRIFIED of thunderstorms. Too bad I wasn't home to put the Thundershirt on her for a few minutes, she would have been right as rain afterward. She LOVES when I take the Thundershirt off and she goes all crazy hahaha...

Try Legacy Veterinary Hospital in Frisco. It is about 30 minutes from uptown area of dallas. Dr Roberts there is familar with Shibas and is very helpful. I now live in west Texas and drive 7 hours for Kuma's vet visits.

Yay. Let's DO this. I was looking for pet friendly places. Seems a lot of shopping centers in the uptown area of Dallas are pet friendly. A lot of the Half Price Books are. Even Chipotle would be fine!

The Dallas Morning News does a great article every week called Dog About Town. It lists all of the dog friendly activities occurring in the DFW area for that week. They do a new one every Friday. At the bottom of the article is a current list of confirmed dog friendly businesses (including restaurants).

As an additional note, the Holy Grail Pub in Frisco is also dog friendly & has a nice covered patio. That one isn't listed on the Dog About Town blog but my husband & I are frequent visitors & we often bring the dogs. The waiters are awesome, they love to pet the dogs & they will usually bring them a big bowl of water without even asking. Don't know if any of you guys are into craft beer, but it's an awesome place to hang out & have a pint.

We should try to set something up, I'd love for Elwood to meet some other Shibas in the area. Are we thinking dog park, restaurant, shopping expedition??

Hello everyone!!! SO SORRY... it's been a crazy few months relocating and getting new jobs... but I'm happy to report that after a month in Dallas we are settled and ready to come out and play!!!

Duke is a red male and will turn 2 in October... so he's still an energetic puppy and would love to meet fellow Shibas. We have a dog in our apt complex and he has made a couple of friends, but we all know that Shibas love Shibas!

We are really close to downtown Dallas but we can meet you guys north of Dallas as it seems more convenient for everyone. I would prefer to go to a dog park so that the furkids can play off-leash for a while.

@catloree You know EVERYTHING about this area! I love Holy Grail. My boss introduced it to me when we had an outing. I work close to that area but down in Plano.

I'm with ShibaMom1. I'd prefer a park first. My boy is at the stage where he's trying to show his alpha side to all the other dogs he socializes with. Dominance thing right? Perhaps I should wait until I get the boy neutered before running about with the pack.

@ShibaMom1 - I totally understand, moving is draining! Elwood is a red male that turned 2 in April. He is still a big puppy too, so I think that he & Duke would have a blast!

Let's try to set up something at a dog park then! Maybe Jack Carter Dog Park (Plano), North Bark Park (north Dallas), or Wagging Tail Dog Park (also north Dallas)? Seems like one of those three would be the most centrally located. Any certain days of the week that work better for you guys?

@realslimnatey - I've met a lot of fun people through agility who have really helped me get to know the area. And I probably spend way more time than I should at Holy Grail Pub, but the food is as good as the beer so it's hard to resist. I'm obsessed with their brisket melt!

Elwood is super laid back, I've never seen him have an issue with another dog. Maybe if we tried to go at a less busy time we could just see how things go between Sonic, Elwood & Duke?

I would love to meetup with everybody but I gave a strange working schedule of 7 on/ 7 off and this is my "off" week right now. I like the North Bark dog park as it has a small and large dog enclosed areas. Are most restaurants with outside patios dog friendly in Dallas?

@chelley3 - I'd love to meet Miya! My husband is a police officer so I know all about weird schedules - I'm sure we can work around it! :)

As far as restaurants with outdoor patios, I've found that many of them are dog friendly, but I know that the ones located in the city of Dallas have to apply for a special variance in order to allow dogs. Dallas City Hall actually has a website with a list of the restaurants in Dallas that have the variance (http://www.dallascityhall.com/code_compliance/restaurant_dogs_faq.html) but I'm not sure how up to date it is. Restaurants outside of Dallas may have to do something similar, but I'm not sure. The easiest way to find out if a restaurant with an outdoor patio allows dogs is to call the restaurant and ask. Even if you think the restaurant is dog friendly (like if it is listed in the Dog About Town blog), it's always best to call ahead anyways just to be sure.

@catloree - Thank you for that info. Once it cools down, I will definitely bring Miya to a restaurant so she can hang out outside of the house.

How are you guys dealing wih this heat here? I live in Lewisville in a hilly area and it'shard walking Miya in triple digits. I stopped going to the dog parks b/c I can't really deal with this heat right now. I am sooooo ready for September and October weather.

Koji and I stay inside most of the day during the summer, haha. We go out early in the morning, then don't get many long walks until the evening when it starts to get "cooler." The humidity has been really bad, though, and that is just killing us.

What I do love about summer is Railroad Dog Park is open until 11 PM, so you can get over there after the sun goes down and there are a lot of people there who let their dogs get some exercise out of the sun and there are ice water filled coolers for the dogs scattered all over the park from owners who bring them to share. :)

Hi everyone! Duke is doing OK with the heat... he actually developed a love for sunbathing out on the balcony. He gets so mad when we make him come inside, but we do need to watch out for heat strokes... Once he gets cooled down a bit and drinks some water he starts scratching the door so that we let him go out! He is so funny!!!

Who is up for puppy play some time soon? What's the best dog park in the area?

I also wanted to ask you where you all got your shibas from??? Any good breeders in the area? We want to expand our shiba family real soon, but do not know any reputable breeders in the area or close to Dallas.

I will PM you about breeders, but there aren't many. ;) There are some breeder discussions in the members only threads, I believe.

Koji was an owner surrender to the rescue and from San Antonio and I think they got him in Oklahoma somewhere? I don't really know. :)

As far as best dog park in the area, depends on where you are! The top ones on my list are:Railroad in LewisvilleGrammercy in Dallas (brand new and huge! Three sections with one being a doggy lake and a hiking trail)Arlington DPFt WoofWiggly Field in Denton

There are others around, like White Rock in Dallas and Jack Carter in Plano but we don't go there very much since people often either bring aggressive dogs or don't want your dog to interact with theirs at all.

The heat is rough. We only go out in the early mornings or late evenings. We've also been trying to participate in more indoor activities. Dog City in Addison had a great event last weekend called Dog Games where all of the dogs got to play games for prizes. Elwood didn't win anything but he had a great time :). I'm thinking about enrolling him in some classes there since I already train there with my Pom.

I'd be up for meeting sometime soon, we just need to decide on a time & place!

@ShibaMom1 - I've never taken an obedience class at Dog City but I'm in one of their agility classes with Sadie. They are very into positive reinforcement/clicker training which I like. They offer all kinds of classes. Descriptions of all of their classes can be found at http://www.dogcitytrainingcenter.com/Classes_Registration.html. I'm currently training with Paula Weir, who is the owner, and I really like her. I haven't worked with any of the other trainers there, but I do know that they all use positive reinforcement.

The first Friday of the month Dog City offers a fun happy hour event (humans only) where they talk about a topic that dog lovers are interested in. They've covered nutrition & training in previous discussions & this month (August 3) they're doing something called the Shaping Game where they are going to send a person out of the room and have the rest of the group pick a behavior to "shape" when the person comes back. No verbal cues, just clicks. I think it'll be hilarious as well as enlightening. This is the flier: http://www.dogcitytrainingcenter.com/uploads/AugustMuttMatters.pdf. It's $10, BYOB & they provide snacks. Anyways, one of those happy hours might be a good way for you to talk with the trainers & see what you think about the facility.

Welcome to Texas! I live in Houston so I def know about the heat....I just got my Shiba..about a month ago. He loves being outside although sometimes it is just too hot. If we are outside I make sure he has PLENTY of water and we take multiple break for him to cool down (he ususally plops down on the tile floor). My sis lives in Dallas so I'll be up there quite a bit. Hope to meet up for a play date! Any Shiba owners in the Houston area? :)

I'm in Houston! I'm always up for puppy playdates, too, as long as it's not too hot. Mitsu enjoys dogs a lot less when it's super hot and can get kind of snarky. When it's cool (like after it rains or as the weather gets a little better), though, she has fun. And Kratos, while not a shiba, adores other dogs, especially puppies.

@JScarf5 - if you're interested in meeting up, send me a message and let me know what part of Houston you're in! We have a huge, awesome dog park in my area.

Weathers getting better folks! This wknd is Barkfest in Deep Ellum. Also, I've been frequenting Frisco & Lewisville dog parks yet to find another Shiba. Let's hang soon someone! I'm curious to see if my boy will play with another Shiba right away.

For those of you in central Dallas there is a small local dog park that I discovered. It is called Central Dog Park and it is located behind Central Christian Church at 4711 Westside Dr Dallas, TX. Currently I go there most evenings around 7pm and like it because there are regulars who are pretty nice and it is in a nice part of town (Highland Park). I have even met another Shiba there. I would also be up for meeting up soon. I think the weather is cool enough now although I'm a Texas native. I have an 11 mo and 18 mo old foster right now that could use the play and socialization.

I will be there tonight around 7pm. Saturday there is a DFW Shiba Inu meetup at the dog park at White Rock Lake at 9am although no one is signed up to go. Everyone here wanting to do a shiba play date should join the meetup and go!! Anyways, I will also probably be going to the Central dog park on Sunday but I am not sure if in the am or pm. Let me know if you can make one of those and I will be sure to make it.